Aztec Marriage

Women were expected to marry and have children. This is what their lot in life was. If a woman didn’t marry, there were few reasons. One, her family must have needed her at home to help them with their other children or to make tribute cloth. It was also possible that she would join the priesthood and live in the church. She could also live as a prostitute but we will talk about that later.
Marriage was a step though that most women in Aztec society made. They had a strict marriage plan that was followed by all Aztec societies. The courtship was initiated by the boys family in most all cases. They would send a matrimonial agent to the house of the girl and make their plea. In Aztec culture, it was made that the first attempt be denied by the girls family, they usually claiming their daughter to be too young. But this was not to be taken seriously, it was simply their way of one wooing the other and it lasted for many days.
Once the offer was accepted by the parents of the girl, she was lectured most repetitively by her family about what she was to do as a new bride. She of course, was not allowed to offer an opinion and so listened respectfully as she was told she was no longer a child but a woman and to behave as so. It is unsure in Aztec society, even with Sahagun’s readings, if the girl was to give a dowry or if the boy offered gifts to her family. It is known that in Mayan society, a young man must work in the house of his in-laws for at least four years.
Once the wedding was announced, the relatives and friends of both families were invited to celebrate and the priests were ordered to pick the date for the wedding. They would pick a “good” day for the wedding to be held so that the new bride and groom would be prosperous. On the day of the wedding, the bride was washed, hair was cleaned, face was made up with ochre and powdered with sulfur purites, so to give the appearance of shining. Feathers of exotic birds were put on her arms and legs and she was dressed in the finest embroidered garments the family owned. At sunset, the groom’s family came to her house and would give their thanks and apologies to the family of the bride. Then the bride would kneel on a black cloth and an older woman would pick her up and carry her on her back to the house of the groom. The female relatives would follow in line behind. Once at the house of the groom, the bride would be set upon the hearth and the groom would sit next to her on her right. The matrimonial agent would tie the ends of the man’s shirt to the brides garment and then feed each of them four bites of maize cake. This signified the marriage ceremony and they were now husband and wife.
After this, priestesses would come and lead the new couple to a room where they were to be left alone, with only priestesses outside to stand guard. The rest of the family would have festivities for the next four days. Marriage signified the bondage of a woman transferring from their father to their husband.
The new couple were made to live in the calpulli of the husband. A woman that was worthy of marriage was to be a virgin and to always be faithful to their husbands. This was demanded of them and was punished by means of stoning. No laws like this applied to the males. They could have slept with prostitutes before marriage and could have more than one wife, although polygyny was mostly observed by the nobles.